Better Business Bureau urges donor caution after tornadoes

by jmaloni

Press release

Fri, May 24th 2013 06:45 pm

BBB
Wise Giving Alliance offers tips on disaster giving

In
the wake of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma,
and in north Texas last week, Better
Business Bureau and BBB
Wise Giving Alliance have
issued tips to help donors make smart giving decisions and to avoid
scams.

"After every
natural disaster and manmade catastrophe, we see an outpouring of
generosity, along with the inevitable scams and frauds," said Art
Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. "We urge
donors to take the time to make sure their donations are going to
legitimate charities that can do the most good for those in need."

"BBB
Oklahoma City is so grateful for the immediate response from people
all across the country," said Kitt Letcher, the brand new president
and CEO of BBB of Central Oklahoma. "We will be keeping a close eye
on the situation in order to prevent, as much as possible, scams
related to charity relief, as well as restoration and rebuilding
services."

BBB
Wise Giving Alliance is offering the following tips to help donors
decide where to direct donations to assist victims,

Be
cautious when giving online. Be
cautious about online giving, especially in response to unsolicited
spam messages, and emails and social media posts that claim to link
to a relief organization. If you want to give to a charity involved
in relief efforts, go directly to the charity's website. In
response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Asian tsunamis, the
FBI and others raised concerns about websites and new organizations
that were created overnight, allegedly to help victims.

Rely
on expert opinion when it comes to evaluating a charity. Be
cautious when relying on third-party recommendations such as bloggers
or other websites, as they may not have fully researched the relief
organizations they list. The public can go to www.bbb.org/charity
to
research charities and relief organizations and verify that they are
accredited by the BBB and meet the "20 Standards for Charity
Accountability."

Look
for experience when considering mobile gifts.
BBB Mobile Giving Foundation is part of HelpBridge,
a mobile
app that helps family and friends stay in touch during a disaster,
and assists in donations to qualified relief organizations. The
HelpBridge app is free and available on iOS, Android and Windows. BBB
Mobile Giving Foundation offers
opportunities to "text to give" to charities actively operating
on-the-ground in Oklahoma and Texas.

BBB offers the
following tips on giving through text:

•Confirm
the number directly with the source. While
BBB Wise Giving Alliance has not yet heard of any scams relying on
text message donations, this emerging method for donating is ripe for
exploitation by scammers.

•Be
aware that text donations are not immediate.
Depending on the text message service used by the charity, text
donations can take anywhere from 30-90 days to be transferred to the
designated charity. If you would like the donation to be received
immediately by the charity, you can give online through the charity
website, by calling the charity directly or by sending a check in the
mail.

•Review
the fine print. When
you give to a charity through text message, you might also be signing
yourself up to receive text message updates from the charity in the
future. A charity should include the details of its text campaign on
its website so you can see what you're signing up and how you can
opt out.

•Research
the charity. Giving
wisely to a charity isn't just about making sure that the
solicitation isn't coming from scammers. Wise donors make sure
their donations are going to charities that are best equipped to help
in the relief efforts and responsibly use the money for its intended
purpose.

Be
wary of claims that 100 percent of donations will assist relief
victims. Despite what
an organization might claim, charities have fundraising and
administrative costs. Even a credit card donation will involve, at a
minimum, a processing fee. If a charity claims 100 percent of
collected funds will be assisting disaster victims, the truth is that
the organization is still probably incurring fundraising and
administrative expenses. It may use some of its other funds to pay
these costs, but the expenses will still be incurred.

Find
out if the charity has an on-the-ground presence in the impacted
areas. Unless the
charity already has staff in the affected areas, it may be difficult
to bring in new aid workers to provide assistance quickly. See if the
charity's website clearly describes what the charity can do to
address immediate needs.

Find
out if the charity is providing direct aid or raising money for other
groups. Some charities
may be raising money to pass along to relief organizations. If so,
you may want to consider "avoiding the middleman" and giving
directly to those that have a presence in the region. Or, at a
minimum, check out the ultimate recipients of these donations to see
whether they are equipped to provide aid effectively.

Gifts
of clothing, food or other in-kind donations. In-kind
drives for food and clothing, while well intentioned, may not
necessarily be the quickest way to help those in need - unless the
organization has the staff and infrastructure to distribute such aid
properly. Ask the charity about its transportation and distribution
plans. Be wary of those who are not experienced in disaster relief
assistance.

BBB
Wise Giving Alliance produces reports on more than 1,200 nationally
soliciting charitable organizations, and local BBBs report on another
10,000 local and regional charities. BBB Wise Giving Alliance does
not rank charities, but rather seeks to assist donors in making
informed judgments by providing objective evaluations of national
charities based on 20 standards that address charity governance,
finances, fundraising, appeal accuracy and other issues. The outcomes
of the evaluations are available online at give.org.
BBB Wise
Giving Alliance is an affiliate of the Council of Better Business
Bureaus.

BBB
Mobile Giving Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to
helping other non-profits raise funds through mobile. BBB MGF works
with North American cellular phone operators who enable this mobile
giving service on a no-cost basis; donations go entirely to the
recipient charities for use in responding to individual disasters and
to meeting their missions. For more information, go to www.mobilegiving.org.

For
100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping consumers find
businesses, brands and charities they can trust. BBB has business
reviews on more than 4 million companies and charity reviews on
11,000 charities, all available for free. More than 100 million
consumers rely on BBB Business Reviews and BBB Wise Giving Reports
annually to help them find trustworthy businesses and charities
across North America. Visit bbb.org
for more information.